Chains, 2015
by Cat the Alien
Summary: The society abiding slacker. The victimised best-selling author. The guy with a sexuality crisis. The girlfriend in denial. The mediator on a vengeance trip. All connected by a single chain, restricting their path to discontent. With Personas, they can fight for individual freedom. But even though nothing is set in stone, it takes more to overcome the obstacles thrown at them.
1. One

**[A/N] Edited: **_The second half of this chapter has been heavily rewritten to be in-line for future chapters._

_As like any other author, I don't own the Persona series and the music used, but this fandom and the characters are otherwise created by me._

* * *

Chains, 2015

ONE

-The Girl and Her Memory/ Memory of The Girl-

* * *

JHAS - Viewpoints

* * *

Year by year; day by day; from April to May, Kai Arimura's life was unremarkably plain. There was nothing much he has to live for, sort of speak. His sixteen years of living, he had never asked for anything. All Kai did was eat, sleep, read and garden—needless to say, it was a pretty simple lifestyle, though he's content for he has got. Sometimes life was a lot like him sitting in a canoe, going down the Mississippi River without a paddle. Not bothered to either control or go against the current, "Things are pretty inevitable." Oh so he told himself. But nothing stopped him from branching out his comfort zone, though between thresholds where land meets water, a profound, indescribable force slowly crushes him. It weighs his heart heavily. Compressing the air out of his lungs. Within himself, he felt hollow as a used shell; a strange feeling slowly creeps in. _Abstract_—the word that immediately clutches his throat; push, pull, in erratic, uneven, beats far more violent than a rupture in the Hyōgo prefecture. Kai was always a collected individual, though whether it's being a teenager, Japanese or his lack to commit, a storm suddenly rises in him.

Besides storms, his mind usually draws a blank. Schoolwork was a drag; most teachers hate his disinterest. "Nothing ever productive comes out of him", his homeroom teacher complained, "Your son is a slacker." Though Kai's grades weren't that bad—he was always in the top-thirty of mid-term exam ranks. With minimal effort, Kai manages to stay afloat. "I guess it's what I'm obliged to do," he states. "There's no point of getting unemployed in this kind of economy". He dozes off in class nevertheless, but the transition between conscious and unconscious was instantaneous. It's like a switch being flicked and his body was on autopilot. Whether it's true or not, Kai doesn't think he had gone through his entire life sleepwalking. "Maybe in some sense, the mind and body are two different aspects." He'd contemplated. "One can function without the other involved. Through subconscious thoughts…I guess?"

"I don't know." A girl replied—they met up a couple of times. He doesn't know her name, but she had an easy face to remember. Many of the café's usual clientele christened her as "Book Girl"; one day it was Scott F. Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby, next day was Daul Matsuo's Paper planes. Though she kept the same constants every time he visits: strong black coffee in a white mug and an ashtray full of up-turned cigarette buds. They reminded Kai of disintegrated buildings of a nuclear holocaust. In the background, Pink Martini and the Von Trapp's cover of Françoise Hardy's _Le Premier Bonheur de Jour_, but nobody listened to it, except for them.

"I'm not a big fan of song covers." Book girl declared. She takes out another cigarette from a box, strikes a match and lights it. "I believe there's no ingenuity; no emotion; their interpretation falls flat as a lead ball. Despite genuine appreciation in their homage, it doesn't have that special quality as the original. Sure some say singers like Sinéad O'Connor and Nirvana—for example—had songs they covered were better than the singers that originally sang it. But at most times other people's covers, no matter how good, are simply half-hearted recyclables used to draw attention to themselves."

"True." He shrugs. He takes a sip of Americano with milk. "Everyone is into the same things these days. Foreign films and organic foods; H&M and indie bands—everyone wants to be original; ironically, they all had become the same. It's kinda overrated saying that things are 'mainstream' nowadays. But when you think about it, conformity is the easy-way to being liked."

"Guess so…" she sighed, her fingers tipped ashes into the tray. "In a way, we're nearly the same." Though when she puffed out smoke, Kai was slightly memorized by its silhouette. Particles of ash and vapour drifted along in the air like dandelion seeds being swayed by a steady summer breeze. "I see a bit of myself in you, but I don't believe it's the same way when you look at me." She cradles the cigarette between her fingers. Dark coloured eyes gazed back at him. An internal joggling stirs within his mind—like an itch before the sneeze, but with a spiritual kind of vibe. Somehow, it scared him; _déjà_ _vu_—that's the word he was looking for. This entire situation was eerily familiar to him.

"It's not a gender thing nor reminisce of age. I like you, it's plain as day. Supposedly, we could be standing at two different sides of the world, without knowing who the other person is. But somehow, deep inside ourselves, we know what that person and place is like better than themselves."

It struck Kai like a lighting bolt. Somehow, once upon a time, long ago, he knew this girl from somewhere close to what felt like home. Words don't usually mean much to Kai, but something inside of him stirs uncomfortably. His conversation with book girl mirrored a sad childhood memory—though what it is, he doesn't know. Kai raked-and-raked the recess of his mind until he had hit one, impenetrable wall of the forgotten. Though, it made him wonder what his first memory was. He could've been three months or five years old; something he clearly remembered or a fabricated illusion. For a slacker, he likes to do research—an awful specialty he gained while trying to murder boredom.

"Have you ever wondered what your first memory was?"

Book girl paused, she looked curious. An eyebrow arched, cigarette out—it joined the remains of its clan. Her latest companion John Kerouac was pushed to the side. Fingers laced each other as her position changed to a confessional. She leans forwards on the table and begins to speak with mild amusement about her first memory.

* * *

When she was three and a half years old, the first words Book Girl remember were "Old Lady eaten by her cats", it was from a newspaper article her dad had read out loud, though she had forgotten what the story was about a long time ago. "But I clearly remembered the picture I drew." She said; it seared into her memory like hot iron against raw flesh. Occasionally flashes would haunt her during waking hours, but never in her sleep. "I find it really funny," she laughed. " A child's imagination can be more vivid than the greatest of artists. Maybe that's the reason why I kept most of my childhood art projects. To remind me what I was capable of."

"Do you still have the drawing?" Kai asked.

She said yes. "But I didn't take a picture of it. However I could give you an in-depth description if you want?"

" 'Kay. Than hit me." He spoke. Book Girl coughed and drank some more coffee. Another cigarette was taken out, she lights with a match, she offered him one and he declined. "I have already too many bad habits." Kai joked. Book Girl simply shrugged in response as she took one, long drag and exhaled with the precision of a sleeping woman draped by a silk cloth. Kai watched her chest rise and fall; it made his heart heavier than it was.

"Close your eyes and imagine the colour black," she said. Kai did what he was told and saw nothing. "It's flat and shallow, but has an illusion of depth. Each stroke of black is a smooth water current." Her words, to Kai, suddenly had a profound effect on him. The nothingness he once started to acquaint gradually became an abyss. Like a premonition that something wrong was about to happen, the weight inside Kai dropped. It began plummeting towards the depths of the abyss far beyond his comprehension. Yet an audible twang of metal on metal, no further than directly at the bottom of his feet, made Kai flinch in fright. His body vibrated and suddenly stopped. A pain far greater than broken-bones suddenly erupted in his head.

Every inch of his conscious screamed as the pain intensified in sharp degrees. As the seconds trudged by, it felt like an eternity. Kai couldn't describe the sensation purely by a word—it's something that's experienced first-hand: an indescribable force. Like monstrous hands had suddenly grabbed by the roots of his hair and savagely began to split him half from skin-to-bones; muscle-to-organs, each sinew and lining stretched far off its limit and was on breaking point.

_Snap._ There it goes; his soul was now a disembodied from its physical body. "It's weird", Kai thought. At least he still had a conscious-of-sorts. Though the sensation was like swimming in gelatin. Whatever happened to the profound abyss became a shallow pool. Though it was still dark and cavernous; he no longer had eyes to open. Somehow Kai felt, as though, he was one with the void. He's now zero. A strange feeling brewed inside of him, tickling his bones. He was here, but at the same time wasn't. He's between the thresholds of land meets water. "What I become?" he questions himself. Suddenly, his body returns and was now numb.

"There were three cats." Book Girl's voice echoed, "One white. One black. One gray. Their eyes were white dots and their faces were lifeless. The poor things were hungry; I was never good at drawing people."

In the distance he could see three figures. They loomed towards him with predator precision. Gradually becoming deadly as the distance between them closes. Anyone in his position would immediately tried to run, but he was Kai Arimura—the society-abiding slacker. "_Things are pretty inevitable…_" his voice echoed. It sounded like him, yet it wasn't him at all. The voice of Kai simply just gave up on life. "_What's the point really? Going through life without any interest. I listen and obey, but never questioned myself why I do these things? It's slavery you could say…_"

A ball and chain suddenly connect to his ankle.

"_I sleep and eat; read and garden; from January to December, there's nothing much I could live for. I'm tired people complaining about me and themselves; what they have and don't have. I'm tired of people pretending the limitations they have aren't breakable. However what I'm tired of most is listening to them."_

By then as the figures approached, they revealed themselves as three cats. One black. One white. One gray. Theirs eyes were empty white dots, their faces were emancipated, Kai could see the skin stretching over the rib-cage; outlining bones as the blade of a dagger. Their meows moaned the melody of a funeral organ. Melancholic and desperate, Kai took pity of them as he watched. They began to nibble the shoe, then the toes, up to his knees and now onto his waist. Oddly enough it tickled, though it could be his imagination since he felt nothing.

"There's something wrong about this picture," he internally thought. The black kitten began to lap blood out of his heart. "So much innocence yet it's gory." One kitten decided to gorge out his eyes with a claw. He could no longer see but hear and feel. A claw dug into his scalp and broke the skull like it's made out of sugar. Three mouths began to eat his conscious away. First the thoughts began to dwindle away than the memories started to fade. Kai could slowly feel himself slowly eaten away with every bite. "_It's nice to get away from all it,"_ The voice of Kai spoke. _"No one is going to remember me anyways. I'm nobody. I'm zero. I'm just something that occupies space. It's better to fade away."_ Soon everything was blacked out. "_Goodbye, myself._"

* * *

He opened his eyes. He yawned. Kai was sitting on a bench of a train car. He must've slept during the journey; he took out his smartphone and looked at the time. 4:44pm, "The devil's time." He joked. "I must've had slept on the way home." Though when the conductor announced they were approaching towards Nanba station, Kai cursed himself—he missed his stop. "Don't make a big deal out of it." He sighed, "Next time I'll take a bike."

Once the train had stopped and he got on the station platform. Kai made his way to the NK02 of the Nankai Koya line. He was meant to get off at Imamiyaebisu station near Denden town, but Kai remembered the dream he had.

"It was too surreal that it seemed real…" He thought. "The Book Girl and the coffee shop. Those cats. My disembodied voice in the darkness." Kai once again was struck how familiar that dream was. It was like that story he read, about a girl called 'Nutmeg' who forced a man to fall in love with her simply by forcing a memory thought into his mind.

"Scary."

A chill went down his spine.

As he carried on walking, an odd feeling crept up his neck. There was a sense that he was being watched and followed, but when he turned around nobody was there. Kai was never a person given into paranoia, but after that weird dream, he couldn't help but feel he brought something a long with him. Like unwanted baggage lying around or the suddenly realization Freddy Krueger from Nightmare on Elm street was with him in Osaka. Kai, nevertheless, kept on walking. But somehow, the people seemed slower.

He stops and looks around, "Something definitely wasn't right." Kai told himself. He gazes all over the station and noticed two things were off. The time was still 4:44pm; the other was a lone billboard that stood at the center of the platform. It was electronic with the label 'Panasonic' engraved at the bottom of the screen. There was no advert, just a blank white screen. Oddly enough, from the distance under fluorescent lighting, Kai noticed that it was glowing. He was drawn into it like moths to the flame.

As he walked close towards it, he notices a shadowed figured in the screen. Slowly, as Kai approaches it, the figure reveals itself as himself. Although Kai's eyes were opened, his supposed reflection's were closed. He raised one hand towards it and rest against the screen. His reflection mirrors the movements as well and rests his against Kai's like an alien first time seeing a different species from its kind. A sense of harmony slowly sank into him, but it was ripped one the mirror 'Kai' opened his eyes. They were a bright, golden color that froze Kai on the spot. Everyone else around him stopped, and the mirror-Kai's fingers began to seep out the screen, clutching its counterpart's hand and slowly dragged him in.

"_I Art Thou… Thou Art I."_

"What. The. Hell?" Kai thought.

A golden butterfly flutters by. Slowly reality begins to slip away. He felt drowsy and his vision began to become dark. The last thing he felt was letting go and falling down on to something hard. Then a loud scream came very soon after.

* * *

Spazzkid - Getting to Know You


	2. Two

**A/N:** Chapter one has been edited and improved.

* * *

Character Profile:

Name: Kai Arimura (有斑 海 _Arimura Kai_)

Meaning: Kai= Ocean, Arimura= To be uneven

Age: 17

Birthday: 14/9

Astrology: Virgo

Likes: Books, Gardening, Naps, Okonomiyaki, Takoyaki, Yakisoba, Yakitori, any kind of street food basically… There's also salmon salad, crispy toast and meatballs you get from IKEA.

Dislikes: Schoolwork, Commitment, Chores, "Nitpicks", anyone who believes I should be getting an office job.

Favourite song to listen on a daily basis: Röyksopp- So Easy

About myself: I'm pretty much a normal guy. Though my grades aren't that bad, so I sort of get by easily without much hassle. Most people would remember me as that "One guy who sleeps in class too much". I simply don't know what I want to be in life, so why bother to commit with work when you know you're not getting anywhere.

Personal Quote: "When in doubt. Close your eyes"

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Chains, 2015

TWO

-The Sheepman/ A finely suited Sheep-

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JHAS - Viewpoints

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**10:17 am: April 19th, 2015: Sunny**

Naniwa Ward, Osaka

He sat on a bench, in the train, with one hand on his lap. Next to him, he stretched his other arm, and wrapped Bunko Ozeki around her shoulders. She gently laid her head against his and told him she wasn't cold. Her straw-coloured hair brushed against Ryo Daguchi's neck like feathers; he gently pecked on her the forehead as she murmurs in complaint. "I know you like it." He teased—Bunko's hand gently slapped him on the cheek. "I'm not in a good mood," she sighs. "I've been up all night studying and working on my campaign."

That's the thing he likes about her, Bunko was so dedicated to her work. Unlike him, Ryo couldn't organize his life properly; Bunko was the next best thing to a time schedule. Though her straight forward, no nonsense, strong-headed personality compliments his cheery and caring deposition, as people say about them. They were called the 'Ideal Couple' of their generation. Nevertheless, Ryo only cared for her happiness. Kai's version of a compliment was, "You're such a masochist."

"Is that so…" He mused. Bunko asked what he said. "Kai has been on my mind for awhile now," he replied. "I'm still surprised that he fainted at Nanba station." His girlfriend wondered if Kai was ever a narcoleptic. "Not so," he spoke, as far their friendship could go. "Kai had been always that one guy who dozes off in class. I still remember our day care years when he would always over-napped."

"He's a slacker after all," Bunko snidely remarked. "On the bright side though, he could nap at any time he wants."

Ryo chuckles; it felt forced; there were things he hated about Bunko as well. It was more of resentment rather than a detested attribute of somebody he was dating. Though it wasn't meant to be taken seriously, Bunko insults to Kai never sat well with him. "Nobody is perfect," he reminded himself. "Everyone has their own flaws that we could easily overlook." But somehow, in his heart, Ryo simply couldn't agree to himself by that fact. Everyone says love conquers all things that made Earth a terrible place to live in, but looking at Bunko and her golden locks, what made it glimmer suddenly became dimmer. Feathers once soft became patches of rough twine. And whatever bonds tied them together started to loosen. Ryo contemplated should he retied the knot once more. Though Bunko called him out and told him to let go. They had reached their station and needed to get out. All manner of doubt was hastily tidied up and thrown under the rug. He pushed his glasses back up, stood up and walked out.

Hand-in-hand, they strolled down Sakai-suji towards Nagahoribashi Station and talked about life in general. He likes the feeling of her fingers intertwining with his; there was something about it that made him whole. Ryo reconsidered about this relationship once more and thought, "Maybe my love for Bunko should been seen in a new perspective." After all they never had any quarrels, their parents seemed happy, their dates we're good, this is what a 'Happy Couple' should be. Her happiness was his and that all it matters. They were a lot like very-good friends in a way, except they kissed and cuddled.

* * *

If depression were to be edible, hospital food would come into mind. Healthy eating was their main priority, but Kai wondered to himself: "Do they really have to sacrifice taste for the greater good?" He really doesn't want to know the answer. His breakfast nattō dripped at the speed of rice pudding sliding down a windowpane; the skimmed milk he sipped tasted like flavoured water; toast—not really toast at all—simply was white bread with a slightly dry and crusty surface. It made him questioned how valuable would a civilization be if they couldn't toast bread properly? But needless to say, compensations had been made, the jam and butter—premium brand stuff imported from Europe—was good, though it reminded Kai of corn syrup with seeds.

"Huh… they did put corn syrup in the jam after all."

Kai continued to munch fake toast.

The hospital cafeteria wasn't busy, especially for a Sunday. There weren't too many patients to begin with, not even a group of old people playing chess. A family of four sat at one corner. One man with an arm-cast sat by the door. The hospital staff on break we're talking about current events, apparently Daul Matsuo had retired shortly after her debut novel sold one hundred million copies in Japan alone. "Something about health reasons," one of them spoke. His co-worker contradicted his statement, "Nahh…it's gotta be all the haters who wanted her dead."

Paper planes, as far as he heard, had been the number-one most read book for twenty consecutive weeks so far. Literary fanatics and the intellectually critical alike had proclaimed it as the "New Norwegian Wood" of this century. To Kai, the plot was pretty simplistic: A girl's boyfriend dies. Said girlfriend grieves throughout the whole book. She contemplated suicide until a boy comes along and 'saved' her. A lot like 'Fault In Our Stars'; there wasn't anything spectacular about it. _Pretty so-so_, Kai says. What interested him was the ending—nobody knows if they had gotten together. Ambiguity is the common-thing everybody hates more than politics and airline companies. People had gone to war on the Internet just to prove their point. Though the story, to him, is what it is—there was no deeper meaning, even if the ending seemed out of place like the frayed end on a string. "I'd probably should give it a re-read."

_Thap!_ A large, brown envelope appeared on his table. Kai looked up and saw 'The Happy Couple' hovering in front of him. They greeted "Good morning" with the tone of out-of-tuned violins in a duet. He replied and asked if they want to sit—Ryo said "Sure" while Bunko claimed her caffeine levels were dropping. Ryo wanted a coffee as well, "Two sugars with milk," he spoke.

"You're such a child." She replied.

Her lips met his for a brief second.

As she strolled to the counter, Kai made an honest comment: "Suddenly I wanted to throw up." Ryo muttered under-his breath that Kai should really improve his attitude. Though it was ignored as he scratched through the locks of his scruffy hair, Ryo asked Kai how was his stay.

"It could've been better." He replied matter of fact, "The beds were nice; service was okay, if you ignored the flirtation from the nurses. Food however, I have nothing nice to say." To prove his point, he scooped his nattō once more, Ryo quipped a dark eyebrow as the bean-goop slowly dropped back to its source. "Isn't that normal?" He enquired.

Kai simply shrugged, the plate was infront of Ryo. "I've only eaten the bread." He said; sometimes there was something weird about Kai, though Ryo doesn't really mind. His idiosyncrasies grew up with him ever since they were little. Their fathers were best of friends back in High school; they both graduated from Waseda in Tokyo and worked in the same firm before Genji Arimura decided to quit—Kai's grandfather died from cancer when he was six. Naturally Genji was the heir to the family business: a small, local noodle shop that was popular amongst families whose heritage in Naniwa-ward we're deeper then the resentment of Westernization during the 1960s. Ryo and his father, whenever Ryo's mother wasn't home, had dinner at their restaurant and hanged out. Mr. Daguchi tended to end up drunk at most occasions; Genji wasn't sober enough to help him out; Kai's mother was the one who made sure Ryo got home safely, Ryo remembered those days when his father made him breakfast just to say sorry. Their idyllic ritual came to sudden stop when MH17 got blown up last year. Mr. Daguchi was in that plane, the ever-stuck smile on Ryo's face waned.

"Hello?" Kai called him out. He was about to drink his coffee if he was going to be stuck in La-la-land. Bunko snatched it from Kai's hand as she snapped her fingers in front of her lover's face. "You better drink it up or else it would be a waste my money."

"Oh… yeah. Sorry about that."

"You've been drifting in-and-out a lot." Bunko stated. "I know you've got a lot on your mind with university applications and cram school. Maybe, you should take a break."

"Coming from you?" Kai quipped. "You looked like you haven't slept all night."

Thus, the two of them started a petty fight. Bunko was the aggressor; Kai played passive; Ryo pleaded them to keep quiet, "Stay out of it." Both of them shouted. At least Kai taken some consideration to say please to him; Ryo figured it's best if he sat out of it. He kept himself distracted by thinking about his coffee. Until Genji Arimura arrived to save the day.

"What are you two fighting about this time?" he asked. Both of them said nothing. Genji laughed and ruffled his son's hair, "It's been a long time since I seen the three of you gotten together."

"We're busy with cram school and all." Ryo spoke, "How are you and oba-chan?"

"Good, even though I'm getting old." Genji joked. He noticed the thick envelope next to Kai. "Homework?" he asked. 'The Happy Couple' said yes. Again Kai had his hair ruffled by his old man. "You better do it once we get home." His son simply sighed.

"Anyways I checked with the doctor and the admin staff to see if you were okay to leave. They said yes, although they gave me this..."

He took out two packets from his pocket; one orange and one that had tables of some-sort. "Apparently your iron and sodium levels are low. A dietician recommended you to eat more greens, drink coconut water and consume the medicine provided for the next two weeks"

Bunko stated she find it weird for someone like Kai to have low sodium levels. Even if he wasn't a gym junkie or some sport athlete, the amount of liquids she saw him take wasn't a lot. Kai wondered where she get this information from; Biology class—he should've paid more attention. Yet, he question her why she didn't comment on his lack of iron.

"One: you always looked pale to me. Two: I hardly see you eat anything but ramen or those street food snacks you buy on the way to school."

"Regardless, I'll keep tabs on his eating habits." Genji answered. "He's my son, but thanks for worrying about him Ozeki-san."

"No problem." She replied.

"Dad... whose side are you on?"

* * *

**1:09 pm: April 19th, 2015: Sunny**

Naniwa Ward, Osaka

|Arimura Residence|

Akane Arimura was busy cooking lunch. Today her son was coming back home from the hospital. She wanted to surprise him by making his favourite dish: Okonomiyaki; but so far, instead of a panfried pancake filled with chopped scallions and freshly brought seafood, it was a scrambled mess. "A whole lot different than making savoury crepes." she thought. "I should've made homemade IKEA meatballs instead. He liked those doesn't he?"

The rev of a BMW engine was heard outside. She peered over the window and saw her husband's 135i parked on the side of their home; he brought it when he was still a company man. Despite it's small-size, all three of them had space. They all stood at average height; the tallest being their son who stood around 5,9ft. She could see the small knot of her husband's hair as he popped out of the car. Kai came soon after; they almost looked alike, in a sense; Japanese version of Gaspard from Paris, Je T'aime.

"Right then..." she spoke in determination. "I'll have to improvise."

When both men got into the house and called out for her name, she welcomed them home and was done. Lickety-split; a mess became some-sort of fusion dish. Officially she claimed it's called "Deconstructed Okonomiyaki" when lunch was served. They both enjoyed it nevertheless, maybe because all three of them were foodies, to a certain extent. Kai likes to eat, but doesn't find cooking engaging, he would rather read the recipe book than play by ear, except no cooking was involved at all.

"What did the doctors say?" she asked.

"I'm lacking in sodium and iron." He stated plainly.

Akane seemed perplexed, her husband explained in more detail. "Though it wasn't enough to cause him to faint they explained. Whatever it was, the doctor stated the event simply happened. All we could is monitor his nutritional levels and pack him lunch for school."

"I'll look up the internet for health foods."

Kai kept quiet while he ate his food. He wasn't too sure what to say. _I fainted because I saw myself with golden eyes; _a definite recipe for insanity, but it's fact nevertheless: what he has experienced was true. Somehow it scared him as though he looked over a cliff edge, peering down the bottomless-pit of uncertainty. If he fall, _would I ever reach the bottom? _he asked himself. Vertigo was no different than the calm before of a mental breakdown.

* * *

**11:59pm**

To see things means two possibilities: death or insanity. Though he had to agree that does sound very melodramatic, though he doesn't advocate artists; they can see thing that made them imaginative. Kai continued to tap and click away on his Macbook Pro while You Don't Have A Clue by Royksopp glides away in his ears. He looked up articles of doppelgänger, besides celebrity news and psychological analysis, there was one link that caught his interest. Somewhere in a back-water town called Inaba, 'The Midnight Chanel' rumour spread-out at the speed of wildfire in a outback. According to the urban-legend, people would see their soul-mate on a T.V screen during a rainy day at midnight. It ranged between Risette and some loner with attention seeking syndrome. Besides said people disappearing and reappearing in Houdini-esque fashion, the story ended there. Kai decided it was time for bed as the clock struck twelve. He closed the window on his Google Chrome when a pop-up window appeared.

It was door; an ordinary door; brown, wooden, a museum piece of humble beginnings with a shiny brass jewel of a knob. Kai noticed it began to zoom-in; he brought his cursor over the red 'x' button and clicked; nothing happened; he tried again, but harder. The music had stopped midway through the-beat. His cursor refused to move as he traced over the trackpad. It was definitely not frozen; the video still moved. As the door approachers closer and bigger, it stopped and began to open.

Everything went dark. His computer shut down. His desk lamp went out. The air-con ceased to function. Smartphone won't turn on; it was on 80% while on charge. Even the clock next to him stopped ticking. An odor suddenly was emitted in his room. _Smelled like old books_, he thought. His bedroom door creaked to life. Turned around and nobody was there, though oddly enough a strong force beckoned him to come out. Like Lucy and Dracula, his heart strings and desire was bewitched. All the answers he wanted were outside that door. _Am I mad?_ he questioned. Without any haste, he walked out.

The hallway in his house was abnormally long and narrow as though it had been corseted by large human fingers. It was completely black as a moonless night; when he turned around, his bedroom door vanished. At the end of the hallway was an eclipse of light—he was drawn it, _Or was it drawn to me?_ There was a golden V he noticed; the door opened wide open with a welcoming creek.

Inside there was a man dressed in a finely cut suit. Black jacket; black pants; black shoes; white shirt; black bow-tie— typical formal dinner attire; his head was a sheep, that surprised Kai. Remotely enough, it appeared more human than animal— Kai figured it was a mask.

"_I'mtheSheepman_." He greeted. His words were slurred but were clear and concise. "_Youaresignedtoacontract._"

"By who?" Kai asked.

"_Somebodywaitingforyou._" Was the answer, _"We'reallconnectedliketrains. I'mthepersonwhomansthecircuitboardandyouhaveadestination."_

_"_Where to?"

"_Somebodywaitingforyou. Theyhadbeenwaitingforalongtime. There'sadelaythough,yourtrainisgoingtorunlate."__  
_

"For how long?"

"_Untiltheinevitableoccurs._" There was shamanistic quality to his words. "_Ithinkyoushouldwakeup. You'rerunninglateforschool."__  
_

Ring! Ring! An alarm went off.

Kai woke up with a start.

His head was against his laptop, the battery ran out. He sighs to himself and saw sunlight leaking out through his curtains. His body ached from sleeping in awkward position. As he eases himself up, a post-note was stuck to his computer.

"_We Will Talk Again Soon"_

_Sheepman_

* * *

Spazzkid - Getting to Know You

* * *

**A/N**: I pretty surprised how the latest P5 trailer is what I had similarly-imagined the setting to be, but who knows, it could be different. Though Kai is a lot rugged looking and not-the-offspring of Vincent and Katherine from that game Catherine (I still ship them though). Anyways thanks for the 60+ reads and hopefully I get a couple more reviews. As long as I had readers, this story is still staying afloat.

I want to give a big thanks to **Sraosha **and **FrozenBlast13**

**Sraosha:** Thanks for the review and the follow. I'll try my best to keep up the good work. I hope this chapter would give you a rough idea where it's set and the tone of this story. You might get the gist of things compared to the last chapter.

**FrozenBlast13:** Kai isn't that strange, he's simply an outsider-of-sorts. Though thanks for the compliment and the review, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.


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